By David Stephen
“Africa is about to get its first international neuroscience journal. The African Brain Journal, published by the Society of Neuroscientists of Africa (SONA), plans to release its debut issue in early 2026.” reports The Transmitter.
“Most African journals are not indexed online or in international databases, according to a study published in 2022, which reduces the chances of the work published in them being cited. But SONA plans to promote the new journal internationally, and Masocha says he is confident that the African Brain Journal will help African research shine.”
African Brain Journal coming in 2026
“The African Brain Journal plans to limit article processing fees to $200 for African researchers, $150 for SONA members and $600 for international contributors, Masocha says.”
Neuroscience in Africa
The new African Brain Journal is commendable, given its opportunity to bring on more African researchers to the centerstage. However, it remains unclear if a journal is the most important thing that African Neuroscience experts can do for their society.
This comment is not to knock their effort, given what it would have taken to get to this point that the contributions to knowledge, by Africa neuroscientists, are reachable.
The significance though, for the continent is that while the journal is vital, what is on ground already or accompanying the announcement, to ensure that novel solutions are accelerated?
What are the most common neuroscience-associated problems in Africa? What is SONA contributing, or what have they done to mitigate or manage many of those?
There is a documentary category, BBC Africa Eye, laying bare many of the stark realities of Africa — where sometimes, drug addictions for youths, gambling and sports betting addiction, indoctrination of different sorts, violence with regards to post-election, forced labor by fear, some problems with the system of education and much else — are numerous.
In most of these documentaries, while some location expert speaks and other officials, there had never been a sense that there is anything like the Society of Neuroscientists of Africa, at all. They have done no work, it seems, around applicable models in mental health, drug addiction, human intelligence augmentation for learning and education and so forth, that would have been useful in the mainstream, against many of the existing and budding challenges in Africa.
This is not saying that their work in neurological disorders — coming off metabolic syndromes — or their work for degenerative diseases and much else do not matter. It does. It is saying that providing more help to their society requires an adaption beyond correlative studies or queueing behind “no one knows how the brain works”, as an exemption to not make progress.
Innovating Health Solutions for Africa
There are answers that are possible against mental disorders that may not require top technical information and heavy neuro facilities. There are possibilities in preventive health solutions [digitally] for Africa, using bulk SMS, email newsletters and much else that they could power, for the entire continent, regardless of external support.
Already, there are often public health programs, across primary health centers sometimes getting across rural areas. There are networks that would have made it extremely possible to reach deep places.
There is no excuse that SONA [founded in 1993] is not mature enough to be present and [to] solve many of the harsh realities of brain problems in Africa.
There are some major cities in Africa, where the density of those living with mental disorders — displaced on the street — is enormous. There are different new drugs, cooked, that several young people are hooked on, in different towns. There are children who drop out at some stage of school, in part, because they found education intractable, not necessarily because of insolvency.
It is not all these problems that require just money, or are undone because of the absence of government support or international aid. It is even knowing what to do and how to do it properly.
Most African cities do not have mobile mental health clinics, helping out some of those living with mental disorders on the streets — who appear like fewer interventions might be therapeutic.
There are no programs to help those who get knocked off on the street, due to illegal drugs. There are no programs to assist learning for several young people, even those that are afraid of math or programming or other subjects.
SONA can collaborate with — and get supported by — several pharmaceutical companies in Africa. SONA can pair with some of the scheduled public health programs, of different variations, from active international aid agencies. SONA can also offer solutions, digitally, getting revenues from them — to sustain them. SONA can reach out to several corporations, to be on their radar to support solutions. SONA can completely do without any government in Africa that refuses to be of help. ‘It is not that easy’ is not an excuse for SONA — a supposed juggernaut.
If SONA knows what it is doing, it can do much better than achieving a journal, to solve what looks like a problem for already well-adjusted, affiliated and profiled academics, than for their society, where the reality is grim.
AI
What is SONA’s position on human intelligence, now that artificial intelligence is taking over? At least human intelligence is about the brain.
What is SONA contributing, from theoretical neuroscience, towards the future of artificial intelligence, especially for AI alignment, AI safety, AI ethics and AI labor economics, to ensure that the future does not become dis-advantageous to Africans?
What can SONA focus the African Brain Journal on, to increase the impact — not for some H-index for authors or whatever, but — for their society?
David Stephen currently does research in conceptual brain science with focus on the electrical and chemical configurators for how they mechanize the human mind with implications for mental health, disorders, neurotechnology, consciousness, learning, artificial intelligence and nurture. He was a visiting scholar in medical entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, IL. He did computer vision research at Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona.
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